Dale Dunning is helping to form a brand new Flying Scot fleet in Sequim Washington. Here is a little background on the efforts:

A year ago at this time we decided that in order to build a robust sailing program we needed to focus on one-design sailing. We looked at a lot of parameters and after considering everything, we decided that the Flying Scot would be a great fit for our program. At this time last year, there were no Flying Scots in the area. We committed to finding used FS’s throughout the west coast and as far east as Denver. As of today, we now have 5 FS’s in our fleet!

This past August we hosted our Sandy Douglass Memorial regatta in Sequim Bay and we had 7 Thistles and 11 Flying Scots. There should be story in the next Scot’s and Water on the regatta. The regatta was a huge success and the Pacific Districts will be held again next August in Sequim Bay.

At this stage, it would be extremely helpful if we could have official sanction as a Flying Scot fleet. I discussed this with outgoing District governor Rich Obst and he suggested we take over the fleet 100 from Lake Washington in Seattle since there are only two member boats in Seattle with no active FS racing in the area. I’m asking for help in either taking the fleet 100 banner for Sequim Bay or establish a totally new fleet.

What is our next step?

Since Rich has moved from the area, our district is now without a governor. Rich asked if I would be willing to take on the task and I said yes as long as no one tells my wife.

A little background on myself. I am a former President of the International Thunderbird Class Association and I still own 2 Thunderbird sailboats as well as my Flying Scot #4372. Sequim Bay would be the Westernmost Flying Scot Fleet in the World.

I look forward to hearing back from everyone and looking forward to your help in building a good strong fleet.

Last chance for the early registration discount is 2/15. Join the 42 other sailors who have already signed up to come. Zeke Horowitz will be there to defend his midwinter title. Paul Abdullah will be there to win back the title he won last time midwinters was in Sarasota while Jeff Linton will be trying to add his 1st midwinter title to his NAC and Wife Husband titles.

You don’t need to be a Rudder Club member very long to know that the weather can be anything at the Gator Bowl. Some years it is warm and dry; others it can be bitter cold and wet. Some days are light wind; others can be whitecaps and blustery. 2014 was no exception. Saturday, December 6 was pleasant temperature but was a light air struggle on the water. After a long postponement, we started in light easterly wind. A big shift to the left was followed by lighter and lighter wind. The race committee shortened the course at the leeward gate. Pretty soon, chase boats were towing the fleet back to the dock. The cold front came through as predicted early Sunday morning. We started in a 10-12 knot north-northwest wind, which built to 15 to 17 in the last races. Even in the early races, there was more chop than one expects for that wind, adding to the challenge.

John Kreidler (from Western Carolina Sailing Club) and Joe Brake dominated the weekend, with a 2nd in Saturday’s light air, followed by 4 1st places on Sunday. Second place went to Jim and Cheryl Signor (from Upper Keys Sailing Club), who finished three points ahead of Tom McNally (Lake Monroe). Mark Taylor (Davis Island) and Michelle Robinson took fourth, and Dave and Kim Thinel (Sarasota) took fifth.

Unique to the Gator Bowl, the Wallygator Trophy (literally a gator’s head mounted on a plaque) is awarded to the district with the best overall performance. With only 2 boats from up North, Wally Trophy gets to stay warm in Florida for another year. In a complete shock to District sailors, Cheryl Signor (crew on top Florida finishing boat for her husband Jim) declined the opportunity to put Wally on her mantelpiece over the holidays.

The Gator Challenge has a great food tradition. This year, Donna Mohr prepared chicken sauce picante (Saturday) and corn and shrimp bisque (Sunday), and Rob Smith served chicken and sausage gumbo.

We hope you continue to send your stories to editor@fssa.com so that we can publish them in our Scots n' Water publication and on our website when applicable. Of course you may submit material to the website and the magazine at any time, or even publish on the website yourself - ask me how by emailing to the address above. For the magazine, here are the dates for submitting materials for for 2015:

November 6, 2014, 59#1 stories due (Mailed on or about January 15, 2015)

January 15, 59#2 stories due (Mailed on or about March 16)

March 10, 59#3 stories due (Mailed on or about May 15)

May 3, 59#4 stories due (Mailed on or about July 15)

July 3, 59#5 stories due (Mailed on or about September 15)

September 5, 59#6 stories due (Mailed on or about November 15)

Keep the stories and information coming to both the website and the magazine!

The FSSA.COM site has moved to a new location. You probably missed the whole event and we are glad if you did. We apologize if you came to the site in the short time it was down and found us not available.. If you do happen to see anything on the site that is not working, please take a moment and go to the Contact Us link above and send us an email and we will try to take care of it right away. We hope that we all enjoy the new more robust envoronment that we have moved to and we believe that we can support the site better going forward. Thanks for your support.

The 2nd stop on the Florida district championship series is the Penfield Memorial Regatta. Held the 2nd weekend of November the regatta was named after long time fleet member Jeff Penfield 4 years ago. Each year during the event the Penfield trophy is awarded for leadership within the class and district. Previous winners include Dave Thinel, Ron Pletsch, & John Domagala. This year Bob Twinem, Sarasota fleet captain, was recognized for his grassroots leadership. He and his wife Brenda have done a tremendous job the past few years energizing the local fleet, helping new members, promoting the class, & encouraging Fl circuit participation.

There was also some great racing during the weekend despite less than perfect conditions. Three races were completed on Saturday after a short postponement, allowing the dying easterly to be replaced by the westerly. Tom McNally and crew Ahad Jehanigin stayed ahead of Dave & Kim Thinel for the bullet in the 1st race. The second race saw current national champions Jeff and Amy Linton battle 2014 midwinter champions Zeke & Jay Horowitz for the front of the fleet with Jeff and Amy coming out on top. Race three results followed suit and Jeff & Amy’s 4-1-1 was one point better than Zeke & Jay’s 3-2-2 when the fleet headed back to the dock. As of dinner Saturday Dave & Kim were holding on to 3rd place with a 2-5-5. Most of the remaining sailors had both up and down results on the shiftier than usual Sarasota bay.

The rain that had started Saturday as the boats docked continued to grow and the temperature dropped as the front moved in. The cold and wet conditions drove most tent campers to fleet members couches, floors, & local hotels.. Sunday morning sailors were greeted with overcast skies and a rain that had mostly cleared. The front had brought a stronger northerly was challenging but sailable. Zeke and Jay took to the conditions, winning both Sunday races. Jeff and Amy finished the day with a 2-4 and local sailors Marshall Pardey and Chuck Tanner enjoyed the conditions with a 4-3 performance. Marshall & Chuck’s finishes were strong enough to move them into 3rd behind Jeff and Amy. Tom McNally hung on for 4th place with Key Largo sailors Jim & Cheryl Signor riding a full regatta of top 10 finishes to 5th place overall.

Results are here. Next up for the Florida district is Jacksonville in December, Port Charlotte in January, & Lake Eustis in February. Come down for one of these and leave your boat in Florida for the Midwinters back in Sarasota in March!!

2014 Chaos Cup 3rd Greg and Diane Kampf The fall colors were beautiful around the lake!

WIth 11 boats on the line, QYC held the 2014 Chaos Cup in shifting and gusting winds and confusing us all enough to know why they should call it the Chaos Cup. But that's not why. The Chaos Cup started with a group of 110 racers in 1985, and at some point the boat named Chaos met with a sad fate when the Coast Guard rescued the crew from the boat and then had to let the boat crash and get ruined on the rocks. But now it's a Flying Scot regatta and we are the lucky ones competing for the cup.

Bernard and Andres" Friel, defending Monmouth Boat Club champions, capped a successful sailing season winning the Flying Scot Class New York-New Jersey District Championships sailed at MBC October 11-12, 2014. The Friels, winners of MBC's Fall Series as well as the spring and summer evening series, also won the Mother's Day Regatta and had top three finishes in the Full Moon and Labor Day events. The pair won the first two races in the District Championship on Saturday and added four top four finishes in the final four races to win the event by four points over Larry and Eileen Nociolo, Fair Haven and five over Thom Lee and Melissa Pater, Middletown.

There was a special dedication on 10/4 at the 3rd Annual Roger Punzi Memorial Regatta at Candlewood Yacht Club, New Fairfield, CT. Roger’s family came to the regatta and presented a beautiful perpetual trophy to the Club that will be engraved with the winners names each year. Roger was a beloved member of this Club and he was always there to lend a hand to anyone who needed it - word has it that he carried every type of tool in his car, just in case!

Although it rained cats and dogs during the racing today, it did not dampen the spirits of the competitors on the 19 boats who participated in the regatta. The wind was forecast to be 20-30 from the north, but luckily it was 8-12 from the south, with a few lee areas near an island that blanketed the sails at the leeward mark. Tom Mullen's race committee ran 2 windward leeward races, and hoped to get in one more before people were showing the effects of the rain and cold and the committee thought better of it and sent us in.

This regatta was the third leg in the Connecticut Cup series which was reinstituted this year. The Sprite Island, Cedar Point and Candlewood fleets compete for the cup by participating in each other’s regattas. A skipper must participate in 2 of the 3 regattas to qualify and this year 5 skippers qualified and the winner was Mark Riefenhauser from Candlewood, For the overall regatta, Melanie and Bill Dunham were 1st with 4 points, Greg and Diane Kampf were 2nds with 5 points, winning the tiebreaker over Brian and Brian Hayes. A big thanks goes to Mark Riefenhauser, Bob McCorkle and Candlewood Yacht Club for hosting a great regatta and to the participants for toughing it out in the rain. Full results are here.

The eighth annual Glow in the Dark regatta hosted the largest crowd yet, with 25 boats on the line, only 8 of which were local club members (our previous record was 21 boats). Travelers from Wisconsin, Tennessee, Kansas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Indiana joined us at our beautiful lake to camp and sail.

I do think that, aside from our record numbers, the other most newsworthy event was that….Harry Carpenter CAMPED! Carrie said it was the first time he’d ever done that and let me tell you that is a testament to the Glow and the appeal of camping at this regatta. This year we had so many tents there is some talk of clearing some more land for next year’s event.

We had a great weekend, though I will say the wind was paltry. Some years, last year included, we have had a bit too much wind, which is probably because we constantly worried about wind conditions. This year we didn’t worry, since we had such a good track record and, wouldn’t you know, hardly any wind.